The disrespectful, mean-spirited stunts perpetrated by left-wing radicals opposing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court have angered and shocked some Americans.

A Minnesota teacher tweeted, "so whose [sic] gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?" Ironically, this educator taught mentally challenged students with behavioral disorders. After the FBI and Secret Service reviewed her perceived threat, she resigned from her position.

But others went unpunished. Unruly, anti-Kavanaugh protesters harassed U.S. senators in restaurants; organized liberals stalked lawmakers entering and exiting vehicles and "senators-only" elevators. Leftist operatives converged on the neighborhoods of pro-Kavanaugh senators, blatantly trying to intimidate them. Senators were ambushed at airports; some received death threats.

While CBS News reported that hundreds of activists were arrested and jailed, Justice Kavanaugh’s ascent to our nation’s highest tribunal hasn’t quelled their scurrilous contrivances. History suggests that Democrats Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ, FDR, and every Democratic president from Grover Cleveland back to Thomas Jefferson, would abhor the ludicrous views and vile tactics of these radicals, who now perform some heavy lifting for Democrats.

But their bullying has no doubt mortified tens of millions of likely voters and substantially energized the GOP. Their antics will generate a far higher Election Day turnout against Democrats than would have otherwise been the case.

Their timing couldn’t have been worse, as President Donald Trump has remolded the GOP into the party of blue-collar workers who have abandoned the Democrats in droves. This is particularly true of men, including unionized employees holding private-sector jobs. Trump also polls well with blue-collar women and is more popular among blacks, Hispanics and Jews than most Democrats realize. They overplayed their hand, but did they learn from it?

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, was particularly truculent. After slamming a respectful, informative letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley as “bulls**t”, she said that men should "just shut up …" Had Hirono said that to Harry Truman, she’d not have liked his response.

And if any violence-prone, left-wing troublemakers had targeted Democrat Andrew Jackson with such vitriol, they might not have even survived. When would-be assassin David Lawrence pulled a pistol on Jackson, the livid, 67-year-old President confronted his attacker and vigorously pummeled him with a heavy hickory cane. Jackson repeatedly and severely whacked Lawrence, and bystanders had a hard time restraining him. Only after U.S. Rep. Davy Crockett placed the wannabe assassin in a choke-hold did the feisty Democrat reluctantly cease administering his preferred form of justice.

In many ways, Trump is today’s Gen. Jackson — a political "Dirty Harry" Callahan, who always fights back and usually prevails. Some say Barack Obama is partly to blame for inciting these bellicose degenerates. In 2008, referencing his opponents, he said, “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Obama later claimed this was only rhetorical, and while talk is cheap, some unstable radicals have recently deployed such extreme measures.

In June 2017, a Bernie Sanders supporter fired on Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and several GOP staffers while they played softball. The seriously wounded congressman was then hospitalized for months. All Americans, regardless of their political views, should reject and condemn this wrongful violence.

But Hillary Clinton says Democrats “cannot be civil” to Republicans and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urged Democrats to “kick” Republicans who, in his opinion, “go low.” However, if inspired by Sens. Hirono, Booker, Harris and other contentious Democrats, some of their more obstreperous, impulsive comrades might try to step things up.

Such stupidity can pose serious risks. That’s because the probable response from many Trump fans may well be: "Bring. It. On." And if this happens, leftist provocateurs could fare even worse than Davy Crockett did at the Alamo. After all, those who look for trouble often find it.

Todd Blodgett of Clear Lake served on President Reagan’s White House staff and as an adviser to the Bush-Quayle ’88 campaign committee. He also worked for the Republican National Committee and the FBI.